UN development goal of zero hunger ‘tragically distant’, global index shows

Campaigners fear climate breakdown, Covid and violent conflict are threatening any progress made in food security in recent years

Global targets to eradicate hunger by 2030 will be missed as a toxic cocktail" of the climate crisis, conflict and the Covid-19 pandemic reverses progress, new projections have revealed.

The fight to end hunger is dangerously off track" and the UN sustainable development goal of zero hunger tragically distant", according to the 2021 Global Hunger Index (GHI), published on Thursday. Forty-seven countries will fail to achieve even low levels of hunger (ie countries that have adequate food and low numbers of child deaths) by 2030 and millions of people will experience severe hunger in the coming years.